Rod Carion: Computer World’s Hot Rod

After sketching their plan on a placemat in a restaurant called House of Pies in Houston, Texas, three people pooled in $1000 each to form a company that would later become a corporate giant. Rod Canion, Jim Harris, and Bill Murto, who all worked for Texas Instruments as senior managers, formed Compaq Computer Corporation in 1982. Of the three, Canion served as the company’s CEO.

Born on January 19, 1945 as Joseph R. Canion, Canion earned his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1968 from the University of Houston. Aside from the $3000 they gathered, they were able to garner $1.5 million of venture capital from Ben Rosen and Sevin-Rosen Partners.

When Compaq was still starting, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was the world’s leading computer company. Canion’s business strategy to match IBM’s prominence was to produce IBM clones - computers that looked and operated like IBM models, but less expensive. Compaq’s market tactic was not original though, as many other budding computer ventures also manufactured IBM clones. What proved to be the pivotal point in the company’s history though, was Canion’s decision to hire former IBM employees, giving Compaq a significant edge over its competition.

It was also during Canion’s term that Compaq successfully marketed the laptop, while other computer corporations failed. Compaq’s laptop models, the Compaq Portable and the Compaq Plus, would set the standard of portable, fully functional personal computers.

In its first year of business, with Canion at the helm, Compaq earned the largest revenue for a starting company in U.S. history - a colossal $111.2 million. Compaq also reached the $1 billion mark faster than any corporation in the U.S.

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Posted by: admin | 01-21-2009 | 12:01 PM
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